Passenger with drugs worth nearly R5-m nabbed at OR Tambo International

A passenger who tried to “rush past customs officials” at OR Tambo International Airport after disembarking a flight from Kenya on Sunday didn’t get very far.

“Vigilant” South African Revenue Service (Sars) customs officials detained the passenger after “16kg of ephedrine worth R4 837 380” was found in his backpack.

“After dog detectors reacted to the bag‚ a further full inspection and scan revealed five clear plastic bags containing a crystal substance which tested positive for crystal methamphetamine‚” a statement said.

A day earlier‚ the Sars dog detector unit “intercepted 4kg of cocaine worth R1.2-million…during an aircraft inspection on a flight from São Paulo”.

The drugs were concealed in “a body suit hidden in the aircraft toilet”.

Sars spokesman Sandile Memela on Monday also told of a “bizarre concealment” case last Wednesday‚ in which an “X-ray of two passengers disembarking a flight from São Paulo revealed they had swallowed 99 cocaine bullets between them”.

“The passengers had been stopped‚ as one of them had been identified as a possible drug mule through Sars’ risk engines‚ while the second passenger displayed suspicious behaviour.

“The passengers were taken to a hospital for body X-rays which showed that the first passenger had 58 foreign objects inside the abdomen while the other had 41.”

Together‚ the bullets contained approximately 1.4 kg of cocaine.

They were “placed under medical surveillance for release of the bullets”.